pennsicdance: the view from afar

[Dave Lankford]

Greetings.  Many of you probably do not know me because I haven't been to 
Pennsic recently, and also because I kept a relatively low profile even when 
I did attend (Pennsics 23-29, to be precise).  As such, I've been "out of 
touch" with the Pennsic dance scene, except via what I read here, plus 
whatever news trickles back to me from friends who attended the recent wars. 
  It sounds as though there have been some lovely improvements in terms of 
facilities.   Not everything I hear is encouraging, though.

Recently Tibicen articulated something that has been bothering me for a 
while.  As an relative outsider in Pennsic-dance stuff these days, I've been 
reluctant to come out of the wood-work, but the following caught my 
attention:

Quoth Tibicen:

>Perhaps it sounds odd to people that what I'm saying is that the group 
>needs to formalize a collective decision making process, to carry the work 
>we're doing
>to the next level.

and later

>I think a lot of folks here feel the way we do things isn't particularly 
>fair to anyone, and it's rather loosy-goosy, and that's not a comfortable 
>environment to make commitments in.  Maybe democracy isn't the answer,
>but we need something a bit more formal than we have.

Quoth Gregory:

>This is the 3rd time you've raised the democracy issue. I don't think it 
>has resulted in much constructive discussion the previous two times.

Be that as it may, I don't think that is sufficient reason to dismiss those 
concerns.  There are many possible reasons that constructive discussion may 
not have taken place, the most troubling of which would be that perhaps some 
people *already* feel that their opinions are neither needed nor valued, so 
there is little to no reason for them to make much effort to chime in.  That 
would mean that, far from being irrelevant, Tibicen's warning is on the cusp 
of being too late.

Decision-making by group is difficult, and not always practical when quick 
decisions must be made.  In the instances when it *is* possible to develop 
either a group consensus or a majority opinion, the effort should be made.

Otherwise, decisions and appointments made by executive fiat simply 
reinforce the notion that who-knows-whom plays a huge role in determining 
who-does-what.  For a group already struggling with an image problem of 
being insular, that's a potential disaster.  If one begins to believe that 
one's opinion only counts if one has the ears of the right person or people, 
it becomes very difficult to resist disillusionment, resentment, and apathy.

Perhaps I am the only one with such reservations, but I suspect not.

   - Dafydd Arth


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